Solo l'anima sa
by hummingbird802
Summary: It was known to those that one cannot live without a soul, one became nothing more than a hollow shell of one's self.
1. Chapter 1

_**It was known to those that one cannot live without a soul, one became nothing more than a hollow shell of one's self.**_

On a foretold night that was burned into the crevices of the innocent captive's minds, a horrendous scene occurred that they would remember throughout their existences and would look back to with mortification.

Captives were taken as those responsible would take every person the captives had cared about was brought before them and was tortured at an agonizingly slow pace. The least amount a time one of the sessions would take was about three days, which was usually due to blood loss from the wounds.

When that had happened once, the captors analyzed their mistake and made sure that each psychologically scarring event lasted up to a week.

There reasons for this was simple, to draw out what was already there, yet hidden. It was a tightly kept secret within the village that the captors had eradicated, that the children had a certain potential; but a certain process must take its course before that potential could be released.

A month had passed in the dusty area of what had been 15 children's home, each ranging from five to 15, and the group of 20 captors, which held them prisoner, had finally done something new.

A tent had been put up in the dead grasslands, one that was so tall the smallest children would mumble their curious thoughts on whether they could touch the clouds if they sat on top.

A little boy, around 7, looked around where he was kept to see any more changes. As usual, they were kept inside what looked to be a makeshift room inside of a tent. All 15 of them were bound around the ankles and their hands. It has been three days since anyone had received even a scrap of food, most had passed out due to the painful knowing feeling from their stomach. The boy was no exception, although he was without food for longer due to the difficulty to notice the poor little boy so it's been a week since he had any nutrients.

Today was the day in which they would finally receive their next meal. Most of the children here looked dead and their eyes held no spark to them; the boy, yet again, was no exception. He felt week from the immense hunger he harbored and there was nothing left for him to live for. His family, friends, and freedom were all taken away from him and killed and it was just him now, even with the 15 other children immense loneliness was a constant company.

Most of the children here haven't had a shower in the month they've stayed trapped, unless you got stuck in the rain. The boys light blue hair stuck to his head due to the oils and sweat and dust that matted it down and faded out the color to a grey. His pale skin was grey now due to the dust of the ash from what used to be his home. His clothes were tattered and all of the children had each lost their shoes long ago.

A sweet smell filed into the room that the children were stuck in and each child looked towards the entrance with the gaze of a starving wolf. Ten of their captors swaggered inside, drunk, and threw bread to those fortunate enough to grab some; after they deemed that everyone was fed, they stumbled out of the room and back into the grassy fields. The little boy had yet again missed the scarce meal.

"Hey."

The boy stared at the ground as he started to feel the tremendous hunger starting to numb.

"Your Kuroko right?"

At the sound of his name Kuroko was broken out of his trance and looked towards where the voice had come from.

"I'm guessing you didn't get any," the voice belonged to another little boy around his age. His hair was a shock of a bright red color in the dusty grey environment that Kuroko had gotten used to. Kuroko's eyes widened when he saw the boy's eyes, they were bright red along with his hair and his pupils were slightly pointed like a cat's eye. Like Kuroko, the boy was pale and around the same height as him as well; but unlike Kuroko, the boy emitted a strong presence that one couldn't ignore. Kuroko felt a twinge of fear in his gut from the thought.

"Here."

Kuroko had been too caught up in his thoughts to notice that his peer had handed him one of his two pieces of bread he seemed to have collected from their captors. His eyes widened at the generous offer of food and he looked back at the red headed boy. Deeming his offer innocent enough, Kuroko weakly took the offered food and began to stare at the meal in his hands.

His peer looked at him with a neutral and expectant gaze and Kuroko felt the urge to eat the gift; he easily complied. While tearing through his new meal, the male sat down next to him and began to carefully began to pick apart and eat his piece as well. They sat in a comfortable silence as everyone around them was too occupied with feeding themselves to speak even the slightest bit to one another.

Kuroko, for once, had finished his meager meal due to the intense feeling of starvation he had become accustomed to and thought over what to say to the person who had graciously given him the said meal. It seemed that he didn't have to figure out what to say.

"I'm Akashi." The red head looked at Kuroko as if waiting for a reply.

"Thank you." Kuroko's replied silently and felt relieved when Akashi had gifted him with a ghost of a smile.

"I had seen that you received nothing whenever they came here last time to give food, so I thought that you would like to have some this time around." Akashi looked up at the opening of the tent and narrowed his eyes in anger." They could at least be sober whenever they come to give us scraps so they don't miss anyone."

Kuroko had to agree with his statement, not once had the men ever appeared un-intoxicated whenever they decided to give out scraps.

"It would be nice…" Kuroko had decided to add, "if they would tell us why they're keeping us here…" he left the darkest of his words unspoken.

Akashi seemed to acknowledge his words but decided to remain silent for a few moments.

"I have a theory."

Kuroko had been busy staring off into space when Akashi had decided to speak again.

"I think that they came here because of the village myths."

The proposition was an eye-opener and Kuroko stomach went cold and he felt like puking his small meal. Kuroko remembers even since he was little on the terrifying stories of old that his grandparents would tell them.

The said that long ago, supernatural beings that easily had the potential to split the very earth apart roamed the Earth in hiding. They were not ones for displaying their powers for all to see because they had enough problems with holding their own around their own species and did not wish to alert their prey of their existence. Their prey was humans of course. Although these beings had all but seized to exist it was rumored that a ceremony be performed that could allow these beings to be revived.

But there was a slight complication, the only way for the monsters to be revived was with a human that could survive the transformation; but this was impossible. For one to go through the ritual, the only thing they could expect was death. The ceremony placed stress on the body that was far beyond what it can withstand and thus it tears itself apart in the process. Although, there were stories on how those who could survive it were born once every millennium.

But this was just a rumor of course so Kuroko wasn't one to believe in it, although if his captors did, this could mean the end for his peers around, including himself of course.

"I hope not." Kuroko muttered ad he managed to pull his chained legs to his chest and wrapped his cuffed arms around them. Laying his head on them, his mood seemed to plummet the more he thought about Akashi's theory.

"Don't think about it too much, It's only a theory after all, there could be other reasons as to why they're here." Akashi seemed to notice Kuroko's change in mood and tried to erase what he said.

"Besides, I've already devised a plan to get all of us out of here."

Kuroko looked back at Akashi curious and saw pure confidence gleam in his red eyes. He couldn't help but give him a small smile. Even if he had just met this person, he could already tell not to take him lightly, and it wasn't hard but to believe in what he said.

 **Fin**


	2. Chapter 2

Akashi had explained in full detail what his plan was and Kuroko had to admit that it was brilliant, the course of the next few weeks were filled with bonding between the two and Kuroko proudly called Akashi his best friend.

If only that time could of lasted.

Tomorrow was the day that Akashi had devised the escape to take place on. He had heard that a grand celebration would be taking place and that a large group of people would come and join their captors. At first, Kuroko thought that his plan would fall through because of the immense amount of people there would be. He had told Akashi that and he was answered with a smirk.

" _Exactly, so they wouldn't expect us to try and escape."_

Kuroko finally understood what they were doing now. The captors would be drunk form the day's festivities and would not be able to watch after their prisoners, so they would escape when their captors were too intoxicated to act.

" _I also have contacts with some of the captives that will travel with the rest of the captor's group. They devised a few back up plans if the original fails."_

Kuroko knew not to ask how Akashi had managed to come in contact and devise a plan with the other groups of captives, he knew he wouldn't receive a straightforward answer even if he did ask. That was just how Akashi was, brilliant and extremely secretive.

If only things could of progressed as smoothly as they expected, but they didn't take into consideration what exactly their impounders were celebrating.

It was on the day before of their plan that things fell apart. Their jailers came into their tent, sober for once, and started to take them each away in a group. Fear ruled over everyone's emotions and Akashi seemed impassive to their situation but Kuroko could detect worry in his gaze, they hadn't expected this.

They were lined single file and taken towards the towering tent that sent a sense of fear to the pits of their stomach and Kuroko began to wonder whether or not he would get sick. Several minutes of walking passed at such an agonizing rate Kuroko began to feel sick from all of his nerves, lack of foods, and the stench that grew stronger the closer they got to the shelter.

It reminded him of death.

He stared at his friend in front of him and focused on his hair. It was familiar, and it brought a sense of comfort over his distraught being. Then they stopped walking.

He felt the glare of the sun on his skin and began to sweat due to the intense heat of the summer. There had been a draught this year so the grass they were standing upon was yellow and wilted. 'Dead' The word echoed throughout Kuroko's mind, 'just like how we'll be soon.'

Kuroko would soon know how close he was to the truth on that assumption.

After waiting outside of the tent, their captors had finally decided to bring them inside and pushed them hurriedly towards the entrance. Each of the children scrambled barefoot to where they had been forced to gather and they eventually had been forced to venture inside of the tent. During this, Akashi had grabbed Kuroko's wrist and tried to keep them together as all of the children pushed around as they were shoved the enclosed space.

When Kuroko had been younger his parents would tell him about larger civilizations and all of the sorts of tremendous buildings they had created, if he were to describe the inside of the tent, Kuroko would compare it to the building he was told about.

The outside seemed impeccably tall but the inside seemed to grow even more so and the top was dark so the only way they could figure out where it ended was with their imagination, but it seemed to go on forever.

One of the men who trapped them, had put chains on each and every one of them earlier on their wrists and had got rid pf their previous restraints in exchange. He held the part in which all of their chains gathered and it looked to be a ring with a hook attached.

He attached that hook to another ring that jutted out of the ground and a piece slid into place over the hook those trapping them inside the tent. Kuroko had to squint to see this due to the low light the candles sparsely spread around the expanse of the tent gave off.

Akashi had long since let go of his friend's arm and they both sat down on the dead grass that lay underneath them. It seemed that the others had followed in suit and had seated themselves as well.

"Akashi," Kuroko had whispered towards his friend. He was answered with an inquiring gaze and he took a breath before he continued. "I think we're going to-"

A sudden blinding light cut him off and he felt his consciousness fade, Thuds were heard around him and in his half-awake state Kuroko could feel himself fall as well. Suddenly, loud and painful scream broke forth that seemed to yell bloody murder.

It took only a split second for Kuroko to find out the reason why.

Pain coursed throughout his being and he couldn't help his own blood curdling scream that broke forth through his own mouth. DNA was scrambled, all of his cells were killed and revived over and over in a continuous symphony that created the sound of the children's screams that would make any sane being filled to the brim with fright. It sounded like a slaughter.

The process continued over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over- then it stopped as suddenly as it began.

Kuroko laid on the ground and a deadly silence seemed to settle over the inside of the tent. Kuroko was left breathless and everything was sore.

In order to see had become of his best friend next to him, Kuroko had tried to sit up but hissed when his torso had parks of pain flaring up with every movement. At first it had been hard to ignore but somehow Kuroko had managed to ignore his protesting limbs as he unsteadily climbed to his feet.

He swayed a tad bit once her had accomplished his short goal but managed to steady himself, pausing for a few moments, he chances a glance around the area he had been trapped inside of for who know how long.

His surroundings were completely drowned out by the darkness that blanketed over the area. Taking his chances, he started to take a step in an effort to try and leave the area or at least open up the entrance to let in some light, but there was no need to. The candles which had gone out before all flickered back to life but Kuroko was unable to analyze the environment as his foot got caught on something around the same time and suddenly he was falling again. But he managed to catch himself and he was finally able to take in his surroundings.

The first thing his mind registered was the revolting smell that gave him the impeccable strong urge to vomit then and there. One of his hands was shakily moved up in order to cover his mouth in horror as a second thing registered… the images.

It was a slaughterhouse.

 **Fin**


	3. Chapter 3

Tears brimmed his eyes as the putrid stench seemed to sting his eyes just by the stench it gave off. Every single child that had been with him throughout the short time they had been captives together, were dead. Each of them were sprawled or curled up in what seemed to be a highly uncomfortable position but he deduced that they must be that way due to the nearly unfathomable pain they each had been put through.

Dead.

They were all dead.

It was at the tender age of 7, Kuroko had discovered exactly what a mass murder is, by experiencing it firsthand.

That of course, did not serve well for his mentality.

'they're all dead they're all dead they're all dead they're all dead' The thought repeated in an never ending cycle as he tried to wrap his head around the situation.

Hi breathing became erratic as the prospect of death took over his thoughts and became engraved into his mind's eye as a constant reminder.

He didn't notice that someone was shaking him until he felt the embrace. It was warm and so comforting it made him temporarily forget the situation he was currently stuck in. Kuroko let the person hug him, while doing so he felt as if all of the negative emotions he had been harboring being sucked out of him and it left him with this light, warm, and fuzzy feeling inside.

The person which had hugged him blurred out of his vision and Kuroko could not clearly make out his surroundings, but he didn't really care. Suddenly, shouting from outside seemed to break him out of the dreamy state he was previously in. Alarmed he looked towards where the sound was coming from... the entrance.

The negative emotions that had disappeared from his being seeped back inside and hit him full force. Kuroko started to tremble and he felt his legs go weak when he realized exactly who was behind all of this, their captors.

The person who had comforted him earlier and when they appeared in his line of site, Kuroko felt of huge wave of relief rush over him.

"Akashi" his best friend was alive, he wasn't dead.

A huge weight seemed t be lifted from his shoulders at the thought but the burden remained when he remembered those that had perished.

He shut his eyes and shook his head and his friend peered at him.

"Are you ok Kuroko...? The question seemed to hang in the air awkwardly, because it was obvious that in this situation no one , in their right mind of course, would be ok.

Kuroko opened his eyes to look at Akashi and he could barely see his bright red hair in the dimly lit tent. It seemed that it was dampened with sweat and his best friend looked filthier than he usually seemed to be (Akashi always tried to clean off whatever he could whenever the opportunity arises due to his immense pride). The excess dirt probably had come from when everyone had fallen to the ground when the pain hit, but with how prideful Kuroko saw his friend to be, it was hard imagining someone like him groveling on the ground in pain.

"I'm fine." His voice came out as a whisper but his friend seemed to have heard his nearly inaudible words and looked over Kuroko's shoulder.

Light pooled inside of the tent and Kuroko managed to hear a snippet of what the men were saying.

"Pity most of 'em died," the voice was emotionless as he surveyed the area.

"I suppose none of them were worthy." A second voice seemed to accompany the first as the men took a few steps inside of the tent.

"Or perhaps a few were..." The second voice sounded like he was smirking and Kuroko was about to turn around to look at the men who were responsible for everything that had happened. The thought seemed to spark something within him and he barely took note of how the temperature of the interior of the tent seemed to plummet and his eyes hardened as he sight turned red.

'These people are responsible for everything..' His hand itched and he was about to turn around his twitching body in order to let loose his rage when a hand stopped him.

Steam came off where the hand had made a contact with his pale freezing skin and he snapped out of his bloodlust when a familiar voice spoke up.

"Don't," Kuroko eyes widened as he stared at the boy in front of him. Akashi, his best friend that tried hard not to ruin the scraps that were once suitable clothing, who always remained calm and calculating (although fun to mess around with), and one of the most confident and prideful person he knew... he was... off. The voice which had just spoken sounded casual but with a barely evident dark undertone.

One of Akashi's eyes glowed a bright yellow color and it started to give Kuroko the chills as an almost.. Psychotic gleam entered his friends heterochromic eyes and Kuroko unconsciously took a step back from him.

"I'll take care of the garbage."

As Akashi neared the men, Kuroko watched in fascination as the room took a drastic turn and became almost sweltering in the new heat and Akashi's hands seemed to glow and he watched as small flames seemed to grow from a newly formed fire before it increased in size and coat his hands.

Kuroko didn't doubt him for a second, and he knew that their tormentors would be nothing more than dust when Akashi was through with them.

Although his friend seemed to take it slow with the men and Kuroko felt no empathy towards their screams of agony, he had after all, just gone through worse.

It took His best friend around 10 minutes until he finally decided to finish them off. After doing so, he seemed to disappear for a moment outside before reappearing inside if but a split second later.

When he approached Kuroko again, Kuroko took note of how his eyes seemed back to normal with it's original red color and Akashi offered him a small comforting smile. "I think it's high time that we finally left this place."

Kuroko couldn't agree more. Taking a step forward with his bare foot, Kuroko accepted the offered hand and followed Akashi outside of the tent. The wind gently blew towards them giving Kuroko a sense of comfort and thankfully blew away the sickening stench of burnt flesh.

He blinked away his thoughts on the events that occurred so rapidly and tried to steady his rapid heartbeat. They were safe, free, and they could finally live.

The train of thought left a small serine smile on his face and Kuroko looked up towards the sky as the wind ruffled his hair. They had reached a reasonable distance away from their prison and Akashi had decided to slow down his fast pace and let go of Kuroko's hand.

Had he ever noticed how beautiful the sky truly was? HE supposed when he was trapped there he never had a clear view of the breathtaking display. Where they had stopped the grass was thriving and felt cool on their feet. The dirt was soft and Kuroko finally felt free of the ashes that was once his village. He felt truly at peace.

"Akashi?" A thought suddenly protruded his mind.

"What is it?" His friend seemed to be confused as to what Kuroko had to ask.

"What... are we?"

HI friend remained silent as his question interrupted the peaceful mood.

"A nickname they used for the monsters in the myths would be Rogues, but we are essentially something akin to vampires I suppose."

Kuroko remained silent for a moment.

"Rogues?"

"Yes."

Kuroko hummed in response to the new information.

"We should probably find my contacts,"

 **Fin**


	4. Chapter 4

Kuroko looked back towards Akashi from where he had been staring at the ground previously. They both had decided to rest in the soft grass. Akashi looked to be playing with a few blades of grass he had in his grasp as Kuroko looked at him as he waited for him to continue patiently.

"I had sworn to help them escape after all. They last informed me that their location resided west of here, in the mountains over there." Akashi pointed towards the mountains.

"How exactly did you guys talk to one another when you were so far away from one another?" Kuroko gave Akashi a blank gaze which was returned with an amused one.

"That's a secret Tetsuya."

Kuroko made sure to not let his frustration show and tried his best to retain a blank gaze towards his companion. But that seemed to have failed when Akashi sent his a smirk.

"Quit pouting because I won't tell," he sounded amused and he seemed to challenge Kuroko at the same time.

Kuroko's eye twitched but he tried to retain his failing mask and answered as blankly as he could manage.

"I was not pouting."

Their bantering continued on with Akashi managing to win somehow and Kuroko seemed to sulk in his own fashion for the remnants of the day.

When night had fallen, Kuroko helped Akashi to find materials to start a fire and they ended up sitting beside it with a new problem, food. If the rumors they had heard around the village had been true, they would need to feed off of humans. What part of the human exactly? They would have to guess something akin to blood due to the fact that they were similar to vampires but when Kuroko had realized this the reality of the situation had finally sunken in and he started to dry heave at the disgusting revelation, in a futile attempt to empty the content of his stomach that was empty to begin with.

Akashi had tried to comfort his friend the best way he could possibly know how to but Kuroko seemed devastated that he would have to do something so sickening in order to survive. They were once human as well so when Kuroko had finally realized exactly how he would be feeding from then on he couldn't help but feel a self-hatred slowly build up inside of him.

'I'm a monster.' He wrapped his scrawny arms around his bony legs as sobs wracked inside his small frail body. Akashi seemed to realize what was happening with his friend and moved beside him and embraced him.. Kuroko heard his friend mumble soft 'It's not your fault" and felt grateful to him. He wouldn't have been able to get through any of this without him.

Kuroko didn't keep his train of thought on that for long though when he let loose the emotions he had failed in trying to bottle up. By the time he had finished, Kuroko's eyes were sore and he was starting to fall asleep. But before doing so, he managed to mumble a few words before surrendering himself to the blissful darkness of sleep.

"Thank you Akashi."

Akashi looked down sadly at his best friend, but a tickling feeling at the base of the skull caused him to tense and whisper echoed within his mind.

 _"It looks like he fell asleep"_

Akashi hissed as a stabbing pain seemed to take its course throughout his skull.

 _"Don't struggle; you don't want to starve do you?"_

His vision went dark.

When Kuroko had finally woken up the next morning, he felt far weaker than he had the day previous. He couldn't move a single limb and he seemed to be stuck lying on the ground.

"You look like your about to drop dead."

Kuroko struggled to look at Akashi who neared him; his eye was yellow again.

'What does yellow mean?'

Akashi stared down at Kuroko and seemed to be internally debating something before he seemed to have finally has come to a final decision. He handed Kuroko a water bottle to which Kuroko stared at; unfortunately, he was unable to move to grab it.

"If you drink it it'll make you feel better" The water bottle was being slowly shaken back and forth in front of him.

"I'm sorry Akashi," he started weakly "but it seems I am unable to move on my own at the moment. His friend looked down at him before grabbing Kuroko by the shoulders and lifting him up into a sitting position. He placed the water bottle at his mouth while helping Kuroko remain upright.

Slowly, Akashi tipped the water bottle and Kuroko started to slowly drink from it.

The taste sweet taste of the liquid was sweet and refreshing and it seemed to fill up his stomach. It reminded him of the vanilla milkshakes eh loved that his mother would make for him on his birthday.

As he drank, he began to feel energy seep back into his body and he no longer felt as fatigued and weak as he did previously. HE slowly grabbed the bottle and looked at Akashi.

"Thank you; I feel much better now Akashi." His voice was devoid of any emotion and Akashi seemed unsurprised at this fact. HE gave Kuroko a small smile and nodded before walking off to do his own thing.

Kuroko resumed drinking the sweet drink right next to their extinguished fire pit they had made the day previously and had a sudden thought.

'Where did Akashi get this drink?' Kuroko shook his head immediately afterwards, it was probably better not to question him for now, he didn't want to seem like he was ungrateful to Akashi. He was in fact very grateful towards his best friend.

'I wouldn't have survived any of that without him after all.'

Deciding to stick to his thoughts, Kuroko resumed the mid process of finishing the drink and when he had, he got up and walked over to Akashi.

HI best friend looked to be meddling with something inside of a bag Kuroko had just noticed.

'Where did that come from?'

He spoke without thinking and Kuroko reprimanded himself about his slip up when he promised himself to keep quiet.

"What's with the bag?"

Akashi looked up at his friend from his crouched position next to the bag and his eye flashed yellow as he spoke.

"That's a secret."

Kuroko was proud to admit that he had managed to keep the shiver he almost involuntarily made but held still without doing so.

"Ok then." He watched for a few more seconds as Akashi looked to be putting something away before his best friend looked over at his with a friendly gaze.

"Are you ready to go?"

Even if Akashi had started to act up Kuroko new that, it wasn't anything too bad, his friend would never hurt him and the same could be said for him as well.

"Yeah."

Therefore, he followed him.


	5. Chapter 5

They had been walking with hat seemed to be hours but Kuroko and Akashi had managed to keep themselves entertained in the meantime. With a curious eight and seven-year-old nothing could go wrong… right?

They had run into three detours that nearly took them the entire day in order to avoid getting hurt from. Somehow they managed to anger the mother bear of three cubs (Which Akashi, for some reason, had tried to pet), drown in a Deep River where Kuroko foolishly tried to take a bath in (he said that he did not think the current would be so strong) and their final and most troubling situation of them all. They ran into a village similar to the one that they both had grown up in.

Although something was off about this place, it had to do with the fact that both Akashi and Kuroko were now Rouges.

Although his best friend seemed to be holding himself together well, Kuroko felt overwhelmed when the scents seemed to hit him hard. His stomach began to ache again and it didn't take a genius to figure out why.

His hands twitched at his sides and his vision seemed to start getting dark, he looked at Akashi, panicked, he tugged on his friend's sleeve and when Akashi looked back towards him, his eyes seemed to widen if but a fraction.

He nodded to his struggling friend and managed to high tail it out of the village, only when Akashi had done so did Kuroko's breathing fall back at a steady tempo and the sweat that seemed to have accumulated on his brow completely dissipate.

"Let's not," he paused for a moment as he regained his breathe, "do that again any time soon."

They had managed to set themselves back on track after having a brief rest. Akashi had suggested running this time though.

"We move faster that way," Kuroko had no qualms in doing so, so he agreed.

"Alright."

Things were not all right. It turns that that Kuroko was able to go fast, although for a very brief amount of time, his stamina was nearly nonexistent. When he had collapsed onto the ground, Akashi had followed suit and halted in his tracks.

"I thought I told you I have no stamina." The expression Kuroko sent towards his best friend was for once, not blank. I was filled with disappointment as he stared at Akashi with exasperation.

Akashi did not seem to take Kuroko very seriously however when he started chuckling at his current predicament. Something about the smaller boy lying their entirely helpless irritated, and disappointment just seemed extremely comedic.

"You should try working on that then," Akashi replied amused, nonetheless he decided to stop seeing how they had ended up a lengthy 4 miles away from the previous village and his friend seemed to have finally cool off from the recent encounter with the villagers. Looking around his surroundings Akashi noticed that they had stumbled across a village near the mountains they had been hiking towards; somehow, Akashi had managed to remain oblivious to this fact for most of the day.

Their status was near the base of the mountain where Akashi could distantly hear the murmurings of young children he assumed came from a camp similar to the one him and Kuroko had recently been a part of.

It was a rather fertile area; trees took up a majority of the base of the mountain and seemed to grow thicker the further one ventured inside of it. Shrubbery took up residence near the base and the leaves blended to make the landscape seem dark in mysterious. For the two Rouges however, this was not seen as a major problem.

The small gathering of mountains was deathly quiet and the atmosphere was dark and unsettling. As the friends trekked through there a foreboding, feeling twisted around in their gut yet they were determined to continue on their trek.

The mountains soon gave away to a large plateau that seemed nestled between the gatherings of mountains. The fact of such a large area being conveniently hidden was not what attracted their attention once the finally broke through the shady underneath of the tress, rather, what was on it caught their attention.

Previously, despite the chilling atmosphere, the landscape had plentiful fresh air, an earthy scent, the ground was soft and cool on their sweaty feet, and it seemed to give a small comfort towards cruel reality now.

Blood soaked the rocky ground and the coppery smell lingered in the air. Much like the camp they had escaped from, a large destroyed tent lied in the middle and covered what looked to be the mounds of corpses of the children that had been sacrificed. The blood of course, did not come from the tent seeing how it only looked torn and dirty from misuse. The blood had come from adult's carcasses the were strewn across the plateau. Some looked burnt, mauled, and an assortment of other fatal injuries from what Kuroko could see. The sight brought tears to his eyes as flashes of their recent escape filled his line of sight and he got lost in the clutches of the memories.

Akashi would soon realize that this would be the last the Kuroko would speak for a long while.

Wordlessly, Akashi approached the image but Kuroko remained rooted at his place for a moment before he realized that Akashi shot him a knowing and sympathetic look. He decided to turn away and he sat on the edge of the plateau but made no effort to advance farther than he already was.

Akashi let his friend be and ignored the rest of his surroundings as he neared the tent. The only way to be sure if his contacts were alive or dead was to check the corpses in the tent. It did not take long seeing how the group was smaller than the ones they were within their old village but the results were clear. Only one of his contacts, the one who was responsible for being their owl, had perished which was a nine-year-old male with strange silver hair. Akashi took this as a good sign seeing how he did not exactly have any attachments to said person and his five other contacts, which he knew very well, seemed to have made it unscathed. Moreover, from what he could tell, they had extracted their revenge soon after.

He walked back over to where Kuroko had decided to sit and sat beside his friend. Kuroko only glanced at him before resuming his previous staring competition with the ground. In other words, he was lost in his thoughts. Akashi was not stupid, just by watching the way Kuroko had reacted to the mess behind them already told him that something was wrong, it didn't take a genius to figure out what exactly his best friend was thinking about, it was relatively understandable.

Anyone would react similarly if not worse that how his friend has. So in order as to not bring about any more grief than was intentionally inflicted onto his friend, he stood up, whilst bringing his friend along with his, and guided them both around the bloodied area and into some other part of the forest. Although he didn't drag his friend purely on the act of getting him some fresh air, he also knew that his contacts had headed in this direction as well.

Kuroko, whom was too caught up in his troubling thoughts to really care, went along with Akashi. After stumbling over a tree root, he finally managed to snap out of his daze and look around his surroundings. They were back in the forest again, although it seemed this part of it had lessened up on the thick leaves and seemed relatively lighter that the part of the forest they had previously travelled through.

They travelled on no specific path but rather weaved between looming oak trees the trucks seemed to stretch as wide as a small cottage. The grass was bright green a soft beneath their feet, laves gently fluttered to the ground and the atmosphere was calm and serene, a complete 180 than the one they had previously walked out of.

Akashi, who was in front of him, slowed his pace top match his own stride and flashed Kuroko a look of concern.

"Anything you want to talk about?" his voice sounded calm and inquiring. Kuroko shook his head as an answer and Akashi hummed in acceptance. He wouldn't pry if his friend was unwilling to share after all.

They ended up walking through the lighter part of the forest for the rest of their quest. Two days past, and Akashi lead them both towards the mountain side in which the scent trail ended at. What faced them now was a cave, though it wasn't creepy or anything mysterious of the sort rather, there was loud voices, one laced with irritation while the other sounded like a kicked puppy.

'Yep, this is definitely them.' Akashi confirmed to himself.


End file.
